Only one Major League Baseball team has come back from an 0-3 deficit to win the final four games, which New York Yankees fans remember not so fondly. It was in 2004 in the AL Championship series against the Boston Red Sox, and that comeback lives in baseball lore, especially in Boston.<\/p>\n
If the Yankees want to avoid becoming the second team to have to do that, they will need Gerritt Cole to be their $324 million man late this afternoon in the Bronx, as they try to win one single game against the Houston Astros, their current nemesis.<\/p>\n
Cole will be pitching for the first time in this series and the first time since last Sunday, when he struck out eight against the Cleveland Guardians to help them stave off elimination in Game 4 of their ALDS series. The Yankees went on to win Game 5 of that series, which is why they are playing today against an Astros team that has had their number for the better part of a decade.<\/p>\n
The first pitch will be thrown at 5:07 p.m. ET on what should be a beautiful Saturday evening in New York, and the Astros will counter with 25-year-old right hander Christian Javier, who has not started since Oct. 1, when he allowed only two hits and two walks in six innings. Javier does not make “Cole money,” but he is no slouch. He has been the victor in his last six starts, and he picked up another “W” when he he pitched the seventh inning prior to the ‘Stros five-run eruption in the final two innings of their Game 1 victory over Seattle in Game 1 of the ALDS.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/thecomeback\/status\/1579975739881197569<\/p>\n
And let’s face it, if the Yankees keep averaging 15 strikeouts per game with a team batting average of .138, they may need perfection from Cole tonight in the Bronx. And let’s not forget: Jameson Taillon took a perfect game into the eighth and Cole took one into the seventh back in June in back-to-back games against the Tigers.<\/p>\n
Of course, the Tigers were a team that finished 30 games under .500, and the Astros finished 50 games over .500. So let’s just say the competition is a little tougher late this afternoon.<\/p>\n
But the Yankees are going with their ace, and they are favored by 1 1\/2 runs as a result. Cole pitched once against the Astros this season, and Javier was the opposing starting pitcher. The Yankees were on the wrong end of a no-hitter that day, with Javier going seven innings and Hector Narris and Ryan Pressly working an inning apiece.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/BRWalkoff\/status\/1540794550700089344<\/p>\n
Javier had 13 strikeouts that day, which Yankees fans may remember would like to forget — especially after they whiffed 13 times in Game 2, including a checked-swing K by pinch-hitter Matt Carpenter with the tying run on first base to end the game. Aaron Boone should have taken our Crazy Glue advice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Carpenter now has seven strikeouts in seven at-bats in this series, yet there is no truth to the rumor that the Yankees left him in Houston and got him a job at Goode Company BBQ<\/a> as the designated meat smoker. That is probably good news for that restaurant, which would have been dealing with a batch of burned brisket this evening if Carpenter had been the cook.<\/p>\n Aaron Judge has 12 strikeouts, Josh Donaldson has 11, and Oswaldo Cabrera has 10, which means we are all learning that there is some irony in the term “Bronx Bombers.” As a team, the Yankees have 83 strikeouts and 74 total bases, which does not resemble anything like a winning ratio formula. They have no .300 hitters and four guys with batting averages in the .200s this postseason, and that includes the five games against the Guardians.<\/p>\n The Astros’ pitchers have been dominating them, and Cole if fails tonight they will have to try to avoid a sweep against a guy who pitched six innings of two-hit ball in their 18-inning 1-0 victory over Seattle last Saturday when Dusty Baker used eight pitchers to hold the Mariners to seven hits.<\/p>\n Lance McCullers Jr. will start Game 4 of the ALCS. pic.twitter.com\/Yn4WkHJqgM<\/a><\/p>\n — Houston Astros (@astros) October 21, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhy Is Matt Carpenter Paid to Play Baseball?<\/h2>\n
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